Texas County Farmer Wins $2,500 for Hooker School District

KSCB News - April 15, 2011 12:54 pm

Shane Metcalf of Hooker, Okla. has been selected as a winner in the America’s Farmers Grow CommunitiesSM program, which gave farmers the opportunity to win $2,500 for their favorite local nonprofit organizations. The Monsanto Fund sponsors the program, and winning farmers designate a local nonprofit organization to benefit from the donations. Metcalf has designated the Hooker School District to receive the donation in Texas County.

Metcalf said he is excited to be selected as the winner for Texas County. “I think it’s pretty great they are giving back to farm communities,” he said. “It’s been pretty tough to raise money for the schools, and it’s a great way to give back.”

The funds will be used to purchase awards for students who have excelled in any of the various sports activities offered by the district. “These funds will help us make this year special for an indeed special group of young people,” said Dan Faulkner, Hooker superintendent. “We thank the Monsanto Fund for supporting our agricultural communities and providing this kind of financial support.”

The donation was presented at a ceremony held April 11 during a school board meeting.

In more than 1,200 eligible counties, farmers can win $2,500 for their favorite community non-profit. The Monsanto Fund expects to invest more than $3 million in local communities. Previous Grow Communities projects resulted in the donation of nearly $1.2 million in 477 counties in Arkansas, California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and South Dakota. In total, more than $22,500 has been donated to nonprofits in Oklahoma.

The America’s Farmers Grow Communities program is part of a broad commitment by the Monsanto Fund to highlight the important contributions farmers make every day to our society by helping them grow their local communities. To date, more than 60,000 farmers participated in the program, which is designed to benefit nonprofit groups such as ag youth, schools and other civic organization